TATAKalikasan: AI to the Rescue! (Article on Progress)
Lesson on TATAKalikasan, Ateneo de Manila University
87.9 FM Radyo Katipunan, every Thursday) 11 to 12 a.m.
AI on the Rescue!
Global trends that have been changing the way we live ... then the Coronavirus Pandemic broke up ... followed by the Israel War on Gaza, Russian-Ukraine War ... and now, inevitable world recession. AI to the Rescue!
Dr Abe V Rotor
avrotor.blogspot.com
Co-Host with Fr JM Manzano SJ and Prof Emoy Rodolfo, AdMU
References and Review Articles
Part 1 - Global trends that have been changing the way we live
Part 2 - Cellphone Radiation is Bad to Your Health
Part 3 - The Mystery Child
Part 4 - I cannot feel - Computer
Part 5 - Quo vadis, Homo? Where are we going, humans?
Part 1 - Global trends that have been changing the way we live
Dr Abe V Rotor
Living with Nature School on Blog [avrotor.blogspot.com]
The adage, "History repeats itself," is real: The rise and fall of the Greco-Roman Empire; the Dark Age - aftermath of the Bubonic Plague pestilence; two world wars in succession; and the recent Spanish Influenza (1920-22) which killed 50 to 100 million people. Other lost cultures like the Mayans, American Indians that "history forgot," notwithstanding.
And whose making are these tragic episodes of history? Albert Einstein has this to say, “The world as we have created it is a process of our thinking. It cannot be changed without changing our thinking.” In this era of pandemic and post pandemic, we have yet to prove under the new normal humanity's resilience and resolve to cope up and prove that "history repeats itself for the better." Then, suddenly without apparent warning, the Russian-Ukraine conflict is escalating into war of global concern. Pessimists both from the old and new schools say it is the beginning of a third world war.
Global Warming, and Shrinking Nature, paintings by AVR 2015
1. Shrinking Nature - displacement of natural habitats with man-made settlements, wildlife is vanishing both in areas and biological diversity. Nature reserves cannot compensate for such loss, and will never be able to bring about ecological balance as a whole. "It is no longer us against Nature, instead it's we who decide what nature is and what it will be." says Paul Crutzen, Nobel Prize Awardee.
2. Stressful modern living - the higher the status the more stressful life is. The social ladder takes us to the syndrome posed by Paulas'Hope for the Flowers. There is really nothing up there, but a stressful life at the apex of society. The stressors affecting the poor are different from those in higher society. Those suffering of high-status stress find it more difficult to adjust than their counterpart in lower society.
3. Loss of privacy - Yet we always strive to retain our privacy even in public. No way: the computer has all the info about us - true or not; our relationships on various levels, more so with our public image. Hidden cameras are everywhere, on the other hand we too, intrude into the privacy of others. GPS gives us information about places, with minute details, often intruding to one's privacy similar to trespassing.
4. Aging gracefully and Niche Aging - Forget conventional wisdom; gray-haired societies aren't a problem. Longevity is increasing all over the world: the average age of a Japanese is 78 years with America following at its heels with 75 or 76 years. We are quite close to China with at least 70 years. Science and technology, socio-cultural and economic opportunities make ageing a privilege today.
In an article - Niche Aging, author Harriet Barovick said, "...the generic settlement model is starting to give way to what developers are calling affinity housing - niche communities where people as they advance in age opt to grow old alongside others who share a specific interest. Niche living is the latest step in the evolution of the planned retirement community.
5. "Immortal" Food - Food that virtually last forever (by increasing the shelf life), while there is a current trend which is the opposite. Go natural - food, clothing, energy, housing, and practically anything we eat and use everyday. (See article, Living Naturally, in this Blog)
6. Black Irony - Blackness has many connotations and implications - principally, historical and religious. Black means race, hell, disease, death, hopelessness, discrimination. But all these cannot be grossly weighed as negative or destructive. Today when we talk of black we may be referring to the colored athletes who dominate many sports, great leaders of movements like Wangari who planted millions of trees in Kenya, and not to look far, former President Obama of the US, and the living hero of South Africa, Nelson Mandela. Racial discrimination - racism and apartheid - may soon be a thing of the past. It is because man is created equal beneath their skin, and in fact, by circumstance, the colored races have proved superiority over the non-colored: in schools, scientific discoveries, business, technology - name it and you have a colored standing out.
7. "Handprints, not Footprints" - a more encouraging way to conceptualize our impact in our handprints; the sum of all the reductions we make in our footprints."
Eye of a dying coral as a result of global warming and pollution by AV Rotor 2005
Says the brainchild of this idea, a Harvard professor. We can reduce the impact of living against the environment - less CO2, less CFC, less non-biodegradables and other synthetics, less pesticides, etc. On the other side of the equation would be the number of trees we plant, our savings on electricity and water. Lesser pollutants, if not arresting pollution itself - and the like.
8. "Your head is in the cloud" - The best way to explain this is in the article written by Annie Murphy Paul. To quote: "Inundated by more information that we can possibly hold in our heads, we're increasingly handing off the job of remembering to search engines and smart phones." Never mind memorizing the multiplication table, or Mendeleev's Periodic Table of Elements. Spelling of a word, its homonym, antonym? Check it out on the computer. Presto! it will correct the word automatically. Search Love, and it comes in a thousand-and-one definitions. Assignment? Search, download, print, submit - just don't forget to place your name. Psychologists are back to the drawing board about learning. They have proposed a new term - transactive memory, a prelude to blending natural and artificial intelligence.
9. The rise of Nones- Nones are people who have no religious affiliation. More and more people are dissociating from organized religions, a kind of freedom to feel more devoted to God, of moving away from the scandals of the church, and money-making religions . For most, they are not rejecting God. They are rejecting organized religion as being rigid and dogmatic. However, a survey in the US showed that spiritual connection and community hasn't be severed by this new trend. Forty percent (40%) of the unaffiliated are fairly religious, and many of them are still hoping to eventually find the right religious home.
10. Living alone is the new norm - Solitary living is spreading all over the world. It is the biggest social change that has been long neglected. Living solo is highest in Sweden (47%), followed by Britain (37%). Following the list in decreasing order are Japan, Italy, US, Canada, Russia, South Africa, Kenya, and Brazil (10%). Living alone helps people pursue sacred modern values - individual freedom, personal control and self realization. In Lonely American, however, Harvard psychiatrists warn of increased aloneness and the movement toward greater social isolation, which are detrimental to health and happiness to the person, and in the long run, to the community and nation.
11. Common Wealth - National interests aren't what they used to be. Our survival requires global solutions. The defining challenge of the 21st century will be to face the reality that humanity shares a common fate on a crowded planet. Global warming, acid rain, El Niño, don't know political boundaries.
12. The End of Customer Service - With self-service technology, you'll never have to see a clerk again. It is an era of self-service - from filling up gas to banking to food service. Swipe your ID card to enter an office or a school campus. Credit cards abound, so with many kinds of coupons, all self service.
13. The Post-Movie-Star Era. Get ready for more films in which the leading man is not "he" but "Who?" Goodbye James Dean, Marilyn Monroe, Marlon Brando, Fernando Poe Jr. Welcome Nemo in Finding Nemo, Xi in Gods Must be Crazy.
14. Reverse Radicalism . Want to stop terrorism? Start talking to terrorists who stop themselves. Conflicts arising from radicalism can be settled through peaceful rather than by bloody means.
15. Kitchen Chemistry . Why the squishy art of cooking is giving way to cold, hard science? There are specialized courses in culinary art, with the chef as central figure with a degree. Home economics has grown into Hotel and Restaurant Management.
16. Geoengineering . Messing with Nature caused global warming. Messing with it more might fix it. Can we ignite a volcano to cool the earth like the eruption of Mt Pinatubo did twenty five years ago? Scientists believe we can divert an approaching typhoon out of its path. Better still abort it at its early stage.
17.Curing the "Dutch Disease." How resource-rich nations can unravel the paradox of plenty. It's true, oil-rich nations in the Middle East - and Holland, and lately Nigeria, where the term was developed - are not growing fast in terms of Gross Domestic Products (GDP). Now compare this is non-oil rich nations like China and Vietnam, which are growing close to 10 percent annually in GDP.
18. Women's Work. Tapping the female entrepreneurial; spirit can pay big dividends. Women's Lib brought the female species at par - if not excel - with its counterpart. More and more women are occupying high positions in government and industries. Women may soon have higher literacy rates than men.
19. Beyond the Olympics. Coming: Constant TV coverage of global sporting events. Boxing grew into various titles, football games in various tournaments fill the TV screen. New sports and games are coming out.
20. Jobs Are the New Assets. A sampling of fast-growing occupations - Actuaries, financial analyst, computer programmer, fitness trainer, biophysicists, translators, manicurists, marriage counselors, radiologists. Need a design for your product? Give it to an IT graduate with a background in design. Need a kind of product or service not found in the mall or supermarket, search the Internet. Entrepreneurs have taken over much of the functions of big business. Unemployment has given rise to this new breed - the entrepreneurs.
21. Recycling the Suburbs. Environmentalists will celebrate the demise of sprawling suburbs, which left national addicted to cars. Infrastructures will be converted in favor of "green", town centers, public libraries, museums, sports centers, parks. Notice the gas stations along NLEX and South Road, they have transformed into a complex where motorists can enjoy their brief stopover. More and more countries are imposing regulation to green the cities, from sidewalks to rooftops. Hanging Gardens of Babylon, anyone? If this was one of the wonders of the ancient world, why certainly we can make a replicate - perhaps a bigger one - given all our modern technology and enormous available capital. 22. The New Calvinism. More moderate evangelicals are exploring cures for doctrinal drift, offering some assurance to "a lot of young people growing up in sub-cultures of brokenness, divorce, drugs, sexual temptations, etc."
23. Reinstating the Interstate, the Superhighways. These are becoming a new network of light rail and "smart power" electric grid. This is the alternative to car culture that thrives on fossil fuel and promotes suburban sprawl.
24. Amortality - "non-moral sensitive" or "neutral morality' - whatever you may call it, this thinking has revolutionized our attitudes toward age. There are people who "refuse to grow old," people who wish to be resurrected from his cryonized corpse.
Our Dying Earth becoming virtually a fossil planet, painting by the author
25. Africa , Business Destination. Next "economic miracle" is in the black continent. Actually it has began stirring the economic consciousness of investors and developers.
26. The Rent-a-Country. Corporate Farming, an approach pioneered by the Philippines in the 60's and 70s, is now adopted by giant companies to farm whole valleys, provinces, island, of countries other than their own. Call it neo-colonialism, - these are food contracts, the latest new green revolution, more reliable food security.
27. Biobanks. Safe deposits - freezers full of tissues for transplants, cryotude for blood samples, liquid nitrogen storage for sperms and eggs, test-tube baby laboratories and clinics. Welcome, surrogate motherhood, post-menopausal technology, in-situ cloning, multiple birth technology, and the like.
28. Survival Stores. Sensible shops selling solar panels, electric bicycles, power generators, energy food bars, portable windmill, etc. Attributes: living off the grid, smart recycling, sustainability, consume less, self-sufficiency, basic+ useful, durable lifetime guarantee, hip + cool community, independent, responsible, co-op, brand-free, out of the oven, goodness-driven, health fitness, meditation, bartering, sharing, socialistic capitalism. 29. Ecological Intelligence. There are guidelines now available to judge products on their social and environmental impact. This is new culture characterized by environment-consciousness, environment-friendliness. Here life-cycle assessment and clean-up corporate ecology become an obligation. We are going back - happily and beautifully to a simple and natural lifestyle.
30. Ecomigration - As global warming continues and the sea level rises more and more low lying areas will be swallowed up by the sea. Before this happens, people will have to move to safer grounds. This phenomenon is happening to many island in the Pacific, among them the Kiribati and Micronesia groups of islands.
Distorted reality - a product of postmodernism, acrylic painting by AVRotor
Reference: Living with Nature Volumes 1 and 2 by A V Rotor; Time Magazine, March 24, 2008 and March 23, 2009; Time Magazine March 12, 2012; Internet
Part 2 - Cellphone Radiation is Bad to Your Health
Don't gamble on your life, and learn about the reasons why increased cell phone use can have short-term and long-term effects on your health. Dr Abe V Rotor Living with Nature - School on Blog
Lesson for Paaralang Bayan sa Himpapawid July 5 2016
Case Study of Cancer in Mumbai
How Mobile Phones Affect Sleep
5 Reasons Why Cellphones Are Bad For Your Health
Visual pollution
1. Case Study Usha Riran Building Worli Mumbai
Towers sending tumour signals
By Hemal Ashar |Posted 03-Jan-2010 Mumbai's swanky Usha Kiran building says the four cancer cases there could be linked to mobile towers installed on the facing Vijay Apartments
Mobile towers or mobile tumours? That is the question. A slew of buildings in the plush Carmichael Road area in South Mumbai, have come together to appeal to Vijay Apartments to remove mobile towers on top of their building, to prevent harmful radiation. The trigger is a couple of cancer cases in Usha Kiran building located opposite Vijay Apartments.
Though studies have not yet shown proof of a direct link between mobile tower radiation and cancer, Burjor Cooper, chairman, Carmichael Road Citizen's Committee, (CRCC) echoes the sentiments of those opposed to the towers in his recent appeal, when he says: "It will take several years for the completion of conclusive research and for any restrictions and safety standards to be implemented -- with the result that many innocent lives could be lost because of the harmful effects of mobile phone towers."
'Remove mobile towers'
Buildings that are supporting Usha Kiran and have joined in the appeal are: Rushila building, Ghia Mansion, Anand-Kamal Co-Op Society, Everest House and Indira Premises Co-Op Society.
Though debate on the issue has been simmering for six months now, things have heated up since the past two months, with written appeals and meetings with Vijay Apartments to disband the towers.
Fatal signals The appeal, also signed by Prakash Patel, treasurer, CRCC, elaborates: "There are three cases of brain tumours (two cases are of a cancerous nature and one case of recurrent/aggressive meningioma) and one case of bone cancer, all four cases in the recent past in Usha Kiran building. These three floors are directly facing and at the same height as the two mobile phone towers placed on the roof of the building (Vijay Apartments) on the opposite side of the road.
"These life-threatening health issues have been either caused or enhanced by the high levels of Electro Magnetic Radiation (EMR) emitted by mobile phone towers. The health hazards arising from such EMR emissions of mobile phone towers is now recognised in all developed countries and the numerous research reports have been published overseas." They say the towers must be removed to prevent widespread panic too.
Inconsequential findings Siddharth Bhandari, chairman, Vijay Apartments building society says, "There has been no hostility, either from our side or Usha Kiran. Some months ago, scientists from the Society for Applied Microwave Electronics Engineering and Research (SAMEER) agency in Mumbai did measure the radiation from the towers on our building. It fell within permissible limits.
"We went to Usha Kiran with these findings but they said it was inconsequential, we need to remove the towers anyway."
Risk to families Bhandari says, "We need to have a solid case to convince society members that these towers, which have been on the building for more than three years, have to be removed. As a resident of the nine-storey building, I reside on the top floor closest to the tower. Even I do not want to expose my family to any radiation risk.
Nobody would. Yet, is there a link between the cancer cases and the mobile towers? Is there reasonable doubt? We have to find out for sure. We also have asked that if we remove the towers then no other building in the vicinity be allowed to put towers.
Ghia Mansion's Shyam B Ghia's letter to Usha Kiran dated October 6, 2009 allays those doubts. It says: "To assure Vijay Apartments' residents that their cooperation is not nullified by future unneighbourly (sic) actions by other societies the undersigned societies undertake and indemnify Vijay Apartments that they themselves will not install any cell phone tower in future."
Not convinced The Indira Premises Co-operative Society letter says: "In the year 2001, our society was approached by Orange (now Vodafone) for permission to install cell phone towers on our terrace for handsome money consideration to the society. In a special general meeting convened for this specific purpose, the officials of Orange tried to convince our members that there were no known radiation hazards to the residents or to those in the neighbouring buildings.
"In spite of their assurances, our society decided not to allow any installation of cell phone tower on our terrace and subsequently, Vijay Apartments was approached by them."
Health or wealth Bhandari would not reveal how much money the building was making because of the mobile phone towers, though he did say there was a financial consideration. When asked if there had been a resident recently afflicted with cancer in Vijay Aparments, he candidly said yes. Yet he sought to dispel the notion that Vijay Apartments' residents were callous and money hungry, stating categorically, "Our building residents are not putting money before health considerations."
Bhandari says Vijay Apartments is set to hold another radiation testing in the second week of January 2010, with the "mobile towers switched off. If the testing shows a substantial drop in radiation levels with the towers switched off, we would have to decide how to take this further".
Lakhs or lives? The angry opposition says testing will not prove anything conclusively, but "all over the world, studies are being done about mobile towers and cancer. Years ago, there was no 'conclusive' proof that cigarettes caused cancer too, but down the line it was proved. So, what are we waiting for? People to die before case studies prove 'conclusively' that mobile cell phone towers are a cancer risk? Is Rs 20 lakh more important than a person's life?"
The rich and the famous Carmichael Road is one of Mumbai's priciest real estates. Perched on a steep gradient next to its equally pricey neighbour, Altamount Road (labelled as the Millionnaire's Row), Carmichael Road's landmark Usha Kiran building has flats going at more than Rs 90,000 a square foot. The Ambanis were former Usha Kiran residents. Now, Mukesh Ambani's hyped Antillia building is under construction just ten minutes away on Altamount Road. Kumaramangalam Birla's Adityayan Mangal bungalow is on Carmichael Road. JRD Tata's heritage bungalow is also on Altamount Road.
What doctors say Dr Suresh Advani, chief oncologist, Jaslok Hospital, says: "I am very clear that there is no evidence or scientific proof of a link between mobile towers and cancer. The link between tobacco and cancer did not take years to establish, it was known since the very beginning earlier than the 1940s or 50s in fact.
"This is a wrong comparison. There is absolutely nothing to suggest that they may cause cancer."
Yet, concerned citizens have collected a huge database of international reports that state cell phone towers are a health hazard, quoting two-time Nobel prize nominee Dr Gerald Hyland who says, "Existing safety guidelines for cell phone towers are completely inadequate. Quite justifiably, the public remains skeptical of attempts by governments and industry to reassure them that all is well, particularly the unethical way in which they often operate symbiotically so as to promote their own vested interests."
Says Dr V V Haribhakti, consultant surgical oncologist, "I am unaware of any studies proving a conclusive link.
The last I read was a Scandinavian study which says there is no link between mobile phone towers and cancer. I don't think there is any solid evidence supporting this so. I do not think towers should be removed."
What about Jaslok? Ironically, the Jaslok Hospital, just 120 meters away from Vijay Apartments, has mobile phone towers on top of the structure.
Says Jaslok Hospital CEO Colonel M Masand, "We are not the only building in the vicinity to have these towers.
So far, there is no proof or data from any prominent authority saying that radiation from the towers is harmful.
If anybody shows me proof, I would be the first to throw away these towers."
2. How Mobile Phones Affect Sleep (INFOGRAPHIC)
02/15/2013 12:40 pm ET | Updated Mar 22, 2013
·Katy Hall Managing Features Editor, Huffington Post·Chris Spurlock
Most people who own iPhones use them as their alarm clock — making it all too easy to check email one last time before falling asleep and hard to ever feel unplugged from work and social networks.
Several years ago my boss, Arianna Huffington, passed out from exhaustion after staying up late to catch up on work. She banged her head on the way down and ended up with five stitches — and became what she calls a “sleep evangelist.” Now she leaves her phone charging in another room when she goes to bed and encourages friends to do the same.
“I sent all my friends the same Christmas gift — a Pottery Barn alarm clock — so they could stop using the excuse that they needed their very tempting iPhone by their bed to wake them up in the morning,” she said.
If your phone wakes you up in the morning, it may also be keeping you up at night. A 2008 study funded by major mobile phone makers themselves showed that people exposed to mobile radiation took longer to fall asleep and spent less time in deep sleep.
“The study indicates that during laboratory exposure to 884 MHz wireless signals components of sleep believed to be important for recovery from daily wear and tear are adversely affected,” the study concluded.
And that’s just a physical symptom of sleeping near the phone — “sham” exposure to a phone without radiation failed to produce the same effect. The itch to check in at all hours of the night or wake up to the sound of a text message disrupts our sleep, too. A quarter of young people feel like they must be available by phone around the clock, according to a Swedish study that linked heavy cell phone use to sleeping problems, stress and depression. Unreturned messages carry more guilt when the technology to address them lies at our fingertips. Some teens even return text messages while they are asleep.
Most of us choose not to set limits on our nighttime availability. Nearly three-quarters of people from the age of 18 to 44 sleep with their phones within reach, according to a 2012 Time/Qualcomm poll. That number falls off slightly in middle age, but only in people 65 and older is leaving the phone in another room as common as sleeping right next it. This story appears in Issue 42 of our weekly iPad magazine, Huffington, in the iTunes App store, available Friday, March 29.
Consumer News 3. Five Reasons Why Cellphones Are Bad For Your Health Jul 12, 2013 01:15 PM By Lizette Borreli
Constant cell phone use can impose a lifetime of health issues. Here are five reasons why. Ed Yourdon
Ninety-one percent of American adults and 60 percent of teens own this device that has revolutionized communication in the 21st century — the cellphone. Whether you own an Android, an iPhone, a Blackberry, or a basic flip phone, chances are you check your phone for messages, alerts, or calls even when your mobile device isn't ringing or vibrating, reports a Pew Internet & American Life Project survey. The modern convenience that cell phones provide is responsible for everyone's increased daily use. According to the Morningside Recovery Rehabilitation Center, the average American spends 144 minutes a day using his or her phone during a 16-hour period. With an estimated six billion subscriptions worldwide and counting, cell phones have become one of the fundamental means of communication in society.
While cell phones provide an efficient and easy way to communicate with friends, family, and co-workers, excessive use can take a toll on your health. Mobile phones use transmitting radio waves through a series of base stations where radiofrequency waves are electromagnetic fields that cannot break chemical bonds or cause ionization in the human body, says the World Health Organization (WHO). Although cellphones are considered to be low-powered radiofrequency transmitters, your handset transmits power when it is on, and therefore it is important to increase your distance from the handset to reduce radiofrequency exposure. The Federal Communications Commission (FCC) suggests cell phone users to keep a minimum distance of 20 centimeters from their handset to significantly reduce radiation exposure. Adults and especially children can suffer the long-term effects of radiation waves on the brain. "Young children particularly need to be careful," Dr. Devra Davis, director for environmental oncology at the University of Pittsburgh, told CNN.com. "We do not have enough information nor do we have enough time to be sure that cell phones are safe, and there's reason for concern that they may be harmful," she said. The University of Pittsburgh also warned its faculty and staff to limit their cell phone use due to the possible cancer risks. Don't gamble on your life, and learn about the reasons why increased cell phone use can have short-term and long-term effects on your health.
Negatively Affects Emotions
The presence of a cell phone while two or more people are talking face-to-face can generate negative feelings toward the person who has his or her device visible. In two studies conducted at the University of Essex in the United Kingdom, researchers studied the effects of a mobile device during a nose-to-nose conversation. In the first study, 37 pairs of strangers were asked to spend 10 minutes talking to each other about an interesting event that happened in their lives within the past month. Half of the participants were seated in a secluded area with a mobile device present on a desk nearby whereas the other half remained without a cellphone. The results of the study showed that those who had a mobile device nearby were perceived less positive by the stranger, compared to the other participants without a cell phone present.
In the second study, researchers included 34 different pairs of strangers who were asked to discuss trivial topics while others were asked to discuss significant events that occurred in their life. Half of the participants chatted with a mobile device while with the stranger and the other half had a notebook. The results of the study showed that those who spoke about significant events in their lives with a notebook present experienced a feeling of closeness and trust in the stranger, unlike those with a cell phone. "These results demonstrate that the presence of mobile phones can interfere with human relationships, an effect that is most clear when individuals are discussing personally meaningful topics," said the researchers of the study.
Increases Stress Levels
The high frequency of cell phone use can have negative effects on our stress levels. The constant ringing, vibrating alerts, and reminders can put a cell phone user on edge. In a study conducted at the University of Gothenburg, Sweden, researchers examined if there is a direct link between the psychosocial aspects of cell phone use and mental health symptoms in young adults. The participants of the study included 20 to 24 year olds who responded to a questionnaire, in addition to a one-year follow-up. Researchers found high mobile phone use was associated with stress and sleep disturbances for women, whereas high mobile phone use was associated with sleep disturbances and symptoms of depression in men. Overall, excessive cell phone use can be a risk factor for mental health issues in young adults.
Increases Risk Of Illnesses In Your Immune System
The incessant touching of your phone can harbor germs on your handset. The greasy, oily residue you may see on your cellphone after a day's use can contain more disease-prone germs than those found on a toilet seat. In a study conducted at the London School of Hygiene & Tropical Medicine and Queen Mary, University of London, researchers sampled 390 cell phones and hands to measure for levels of bacteria. The results of the study showed that 92 percent of the cell phones sampled had bacteria on them — 82 percent of hands had bacteria — and 16 percent of cell phones and hands had E. Coli. Fecal matter can easily be transferred by cell phones from one person to another.
Increases Risk Of Chronic Pain
Cell phones require constant use of your hands, especially when sending text messages and e-mails. Responding to messages at rapid speed can cause pain and inflammation of your joints. Back pain is also common with increased cell phone use, especially if you hold the phone between your neck and shoulders as you multitask. "Long periods of cell phone use cause you to arch your neck and hold your body in a strange posture. This can lead to back pain," says Healthcentral.com.
Increases Risk Of Eye Vision Problems
Staring at your mobile device can cause problems in your vision later in life. Screens on mobile devices tend to be smaller than computer screens, which means you are more likely to squint and strain your eyes while reading messages. According to The Vision Council, more than 70 percent of Americans don't know or are in denial that they are susceptible to digital eye strain.
Visual pollution is an aesthetic issue and refers to the impacts of pollution that impair one's ability to enjoy a vista or view.
Visual pollution disturbs the visual areas of people by creating negative changes in the natural environment. Billboards, open storage of trash, space debris, telephone towers, electric wires, buildings and automobiles are forms of visual pollution. An overcrowding of an area causes visual pollution. Visual pollution is defined as the whole of irregular formations, which are mostly found in natural and built environments.
Effects of exposure to visual pollution include: distraction, eye fatigue, decreases in opinion diversity, and loss of identity.
Artificial tree to hide a mobile phone base station
Sources
By administrative negligence, local managers of urban areas lose control over what is built and assembled in public places. As businesses look for ways to increase profits, cleanliness, architecture, logic and use of space in urban areas are suffering from visual clutter. Variations in the environment are determined by the location of various objects. For example, public transport stations, garbage cans, large panels and stalls. Insensitivity of local administration is another cause for visual pollution. For example poorly planned buildings and transportation systems create visual pollution. The increase in high-rise buildings brings negative change to the visual and physical characteristics of a city, which reduces the readability of the city and destroys natural environments.
Artificial cellphone towers are deceiving to the eye
Advertising is a mirror and shaper of public outlook, social behaviors and standards. A frequent criticism against advertising is that there is too much of it. However, with the introduction of new communication technologies the fragmentation and incentive nature of advertising methods will improve, reducing clutter. Thus, with the increase of mobile device usage, more money goes to advertising on social media websites and mobile apps. Vandalism, in the form of graffiti is defined as street markings, offensive and inappropriate messages made without the owner’s consent.Graffiti adds to visual clutter as it disturbs the view. Billboards are another example of excessive advertising. This form of visual pollution has been alleged to distract drivers, corrupt public taste, boost the infinite need of consumption and clutter the land. See highway beautification.
Natural Radiation Cycle
Part 3 - The Mystery Child
Dr Abe V Rotor
In a workshop for adult leaders, the instructor asked the participants to draw on the blackboard a beautiful house, a dream house ideal to live in and raise a family. It was of course, an exercise, which in the minds of the participants was as easy as copying a model from experience and memory. Besides it is a universal dream to own such a house, and its concept allows free interplay of both reason and imagination.
The participants formed a queue to allow everyone to contribute his own idea on the blackboard The first person in the queue drew the posts of the house, on which the succeeding members made the roof and floor. The rest proceeded in making the walls and windows.
On the second round the participants added garage, porch, veranda, staircase, gate, fence, swimming pool, TV antennae, and other amenities. Finally their dream house was completed and they returned to their seats.
A lively “sharing session” followed and everyone was happy with the outcome of the exercise, including the teacher.
Just then a child happened to be passing by and saw the drawing of the house on the blackboard. He stopped and entered the classroom. He stood there for a long time looking at the drawing and the teacher approached him and asked what he thought about the drawing. The child said in a mild and soft way,
“But there are no neighbors!”
In the same village there was a similar workshop exercise, but this time the participants were to draw a community. The participants made a queue on the blackboard and after an hour of working together, came up with a beautiful drawing of a community.
There were houses and at the community center were a chapel, school, market, village hall, plaza. Roads and bridges make a network in the village showing people doing their chores. Everything that makes a typical village is in the drawing. The participants discussed, “What constitute a community,” and everyone was so delighted.
Just then a child was passing by, and when he saw the drawing on the backboard, stopped and entered the classroom. The teacher approached him and asked what he thought about the drawing. The child said in a mild and soft way,
“But there are no trees, no birds; there are no mountains, fields, river!”
Some days passed since the two workshops. No one seriously bothered to find out who the child was or where he lived. Then the whole village began to search for the child, but they never found him – not in the village, not in the town, not in the capital, and not in any known place.
Who was the child? Everyone who saw him never forgot his kind, beautiful and innocent face. The workshop participants and the whole village pondered on his words which remained a puzzle to them for a long time.
They pondered on the words of this mystery child which became the greatest lessons in ecology:
But there are no neighbors. But there are no trees, no birds; there are no mountains, no fields, no river.”
Home, Sweet Home with Nature, AVR
Part 4 - "I can not feel."- Computer*
Here is a story of a computer enthusiast, who, like the modern student of today, relies greatly on this electronic gadget, doing his school work so conveniently like downloading data for his assignment. So one day he worked on his assigned topic – love.
He printed the word and set the computer to define for him L-O-V-E.
Pronto the computer came up with a hundred definitions and in different languages.
Remembering his teacher’s instruction to ask, “How does it feel to be in love?” again he set the computer to respond. And you know what?
After several attempts, the computer printed on its screen in big letters: “I can not feel.” ~
* The computer has no feeling. It lacks the biological capacity to experience emotions like humans do. It can only process information based on programmed instructions. Sometimes it may analyze and interpret human emotions from data, but this does not mean the computer itself is experiencing those feelings. AI Overview
Part 5 - Quo vadis, Homo?
Where are we going, humans?
Dr Abe V Rotor
Living with Nature School on Blog
Auguste Rodin's The Thinker
Quo vadis, Homo sapiens? Where is man gong?
A young man who was in love asked the computer, “What is love?”
Whereupon, came a prompt answer – in a number of definitions, technical and literary.
“How does it feel to be in love?” the young man continued. This time the computer did not respond. He entered his query once more, but still there was no response. After several attempts, the computer finally gave up, and printed: I cannot feel.
Spending more time with the computer deprives millions, mostly children, of participating in health promoting games and resistance-building exposure in nature. Our children are no longer children of nature; they are captives of education and media, of malls and cafes.
They like to think that the mind is like the computer, that the more information it acquires the better it is to the person.
This is not so. Not when it pertains to health, not with the ability to arrive at correct decisions, not when and where survival is needed. And not when it comes to matters of love.
And here are our children spending most of their waking hours with an “intelligent” thing in the shape of a box, a thing that has no feeling at all!
Even when the computer can tell us of all kinds of ailments in the world, it cannot comfort us. It cannot cure us. It will only worsen our allergies, our asthma.
It cannot reciprocate our friendship, our love, our compassion. Because a robot is a robot is a robot.
Diseases and many forms of human misery are masked by the Good Life. These are surreptitiously spreading around the world causing many complications, untold sufferings, and death. They turn into pandemic as they merge with other diseases – HIV-AIDS, obesity, diabetes, accidents, are becoming common cases.
The success of human beings and all living things today depends on fitness acquired through Evolution and Adaptation. Evolution refers to the “Survival of the Fittest,” through eons of time; while Adaptation is the ability of organisms to adjust to dynamic changes of the environment.
The Four Attributes of Man
• Homo sapiens “Man the Wise”
• Homo faber "Man the Maker” or “Working Man"
• Homo ludens “Playing Man” or "Sportsman"
• Homo spiritus “Praying Man” or "Reverent"
(Deus faber “God the Creator”) Should Man also play the role of God?
Homo sapiens, the Patient
(From The Men Who Play God by Dr Arturo B Rotor)
“Of all God’s creatures, there is no species more guilt-ridden, confused and self-destructive than man. Fear, remorse and frustration underlie his basic behavior probably as a result of his forbears having been driven out of the Garden of Eden…”
“Man kills not for food, he eats when he is not hungry, he mates in and out of season. His suicidal tendencies are unique. While the lemmings drown themselves as a result of reduced food supplies, man will willingly cultivate cancer of his lungs by smoking poisonous plants, convert his liver into a hobnailed atrophic mass of dead tissues with alcohol, or remove himself from the control of his mind with narcotics…
“An important feature of his personality is that the more developed the creature and the more successful, the more likely is he to suffer of neurosis.” The genes bearing these characteristics have not been identified, but seems to be transmitted paternally and maternally.
“While among all other species, infection heads mortality and morbidity lists, among Homo sapiens, neurosis is the underlying cause of ninety percent of all illnesses.”
"As a matter of fact, in the big cities and centers of population, the archetype of the successful executive in the hypertensive, the ulcer-patient, the tranquilizer-dependent. We believe that for an in-depth study of tension or anxiety, in all its typical and atypical manifestations, man is a better subject to study than any other organism
1. Shrinking Nature - displacement of natural habitats with man-made settlements, wildlife is vanishing both in areas and biological diversity. Nature reserves cannot compensate for such loss, and will never be able to bring about ecological balance as a whole. "It is no longer us against Nature, instead it's we who decide what nature is and what it will be." says Paul Crutzen, Nobel Prize Awardee.
29. Ecological Intelligence. There are guidelines now available to judge products on their social and environmental impact. This is new culture characterized by environment-consciousness, environment-friendliness. Here life-cycle assessment and clean-up corporate ecology become an obligation. We are going back - happily and beautifully to a simple and natural lifestyle.
Fatal signals
Artificial cellphone towers are deceiving to the eye
Fatal signals
Artificial cellphone towers are deceiving to the eye
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